How The Red List is made
From a member's nomination to a place on the list each January: who decides, how they score, and the rules that keep the list honest.
From nomination to the list
- Nominations open once a year, before each January's list, to every member with a free Muslim Colors account: one short form, a few sentences on why, and a link to the person's work.
- Our team reads every nomination. Those that fit go to the panel; the rest are turned down with a reason the member can read.
- An independent panel declares its conflicts of interest about every nominee before scoring anyone. A panelist never scores, discusses or decides on someone they have a conflict with, someone they nominated, or themselves.
- Once nominations close, each panelist scores each nominee from 1 to 5 on impact, excellence, service and momentum.
- The panel discusses and votes, and keeps a private record of how it decided. More than half of the panelists without a conflict must score a nominee before anyone votes, and a nominee is chosen or declined only when more than half of them vote the same way.
- The list comes out in January, never before January 1 of its year. Each honoree has a profile on Muslim.Red that shows where its facts come from.
What the panel scores
- Impact
- How much has their work changed things for other people?
- Excellence
- How good is their work, judged by the standards of their own field?
- Service
- How much does their work serve others, beyond their own success?
- Momentum
- How much did they do this past year, and where is their work heading?
The categories
- Under 30: honorees who are under 30 on January 1 of the list's year.
- Arts and culture: writers, artists, musicians, designers and filmmakers.
- Business: founders, builders and the people who back them.
- Media and storytelling: journalists, podcasters, creators and storytellers.
- Science and medicine: researchers, doctors, engineers and inventors.
- Service and community: organizers, teachers, advocates and public servants.
- Sport: athletes, coaches and the people behind the game.
- Cities: every honoree is listed with the city they live or work in, and each city has its own page.
The rules
- A place on the list is never for sale, and nobody pays to be nominated or considered.
- The panel is independent: nobody who runs Muslim.Red sits on it, and our team never scores or decides.
- Nominations are never published. The panel reads what was written, but not who wrote it.
- The panel's declarations, scores and notes stay private to the panel and our team, kept as the record of how the list was decided.
- Only adults are on the list: everyone named is 18 or older on January 1, and only members 18 or older may nominate.
Questions people ask
- Who can nominate someone?
- Anyone with a free Muslim Colors account. Each account can nominate up to 10 people for a year's list, and you may nominate yourself.
- Will anyone see who I nominated?
- No. Nominations are never published. Our team reads them, and the panel reads what you wrote without your name.
- Who is on the panel?
- Independent panelists chosen for each year's list. Nobody who runs Muslim.Red sits on the panel, and our team never scores or decides.
- When does the list come out?
- Each January. A year's list cannot be published before January 1 of that year.
- Can anyone pay to be on the list?
- No. A place on The Red List is never for sale, and nobody pays to be nominated or considered.
- What happens to my nomination?
- Our team reads it, then passes it to the panel or tells you why not, on your nominations page. Nominations are deleted 90 days after that year's list comes out.